Volume 91, No.

3 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY September 2016

FOUR COMMENTARIES ON THE POPES MESSAGE ON

CLIMATE CHANGE AND INCOME INEQUALITY

IV. POPE FRANCIS ENC YCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI, GLOBAL

ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS, AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY

Gerardo Ceballos
Instituto de Ecologa, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico
Ciudad de Mxico, Mxico
e-mail: gceballo@ecologia.unam.mx
We live in a world of wounds (Leopold 1993:165).

Introduction Francis gave us when he published his most

E ARTH has the most precious treasure

of the endless, cold, and infinite uni-
verse: LIFE! Millions of species of animals,
plants, and microorganisms share with us
this unique planet; a planet with a specific
combination of gases that make life possi-
ble. But life is at risk. We live in the midst
of an environmental crisis of possible cata-
strophic consequences for biodiversity and
mankind (Dirzo and Raven 2003; Cebal-
los et al. 2015a,b). Global environmental
problems, such as habitat destruction and
fragmentation, biodiversity loss by popula-
tion and species extinctions, trade of endan-
gered species, invasive species, toxification
and pollution, emerging and reemerging
diseases, and more recently climate disrup-
tion, were practically unknown or little rec-
ognized in the 1950s, but now are the cause
of grave concern. The magnitude of the
challenge and the relatively little progress
that we have made to curb such negative im-
pacts of our development are overwhelm-
ing. We need hope. And that is what Pope
inspiring and unexpected Encyclical Letter
Laudato SiOn Care for Our Common Home
(Be Praised in medieval Latin). Laudato
Si is a call for all humans to take action to
stop and revert the damage that we have
done to Mother Earth: It is my hope
that this Encyclical Letter . . . can help us
to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and
urgency of the challenge we face (sec. 15).
Pope Francis chose his ecclesiastic name
from his admiration of St. Francis of Assisi
the patron saint of all who study and work
in the area of ecology (sec. 10), and the
Encyclicals title is a reminder of Assisis
Canticle of the Sun, a song where he praised
animals as brothers and sisters of mankind,
which was written more than 800 years ago.
In his Encyclical, Pope Francis offers a
rare glimpse of clarity from a major world
leader addressing some of the most press-
ing global environmental issues affecting
Mother Natureour common home, and
the titanic efforts that will be required to
solve them.

The Quarterly Review of Biology, September 2016, Vol. 91, No. 3

Copyright 2016 by The University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.
0033-5770/2016/9103-0004$15.00

285
286 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY
Pope Francis ( Jorge Mario Bergoglio),
an Argentinian priest, was elected the
266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church
in March 2013, becoming the first Latin
American pope. When I read Laudato Si
I was impressed by the fact that the spiri-
tual leader of more than 1.2 billion people
from around the world would address criti-
cal environmental and social (e.g., poverty
and inequality) issues in such a compelling
way. And that is good news. As the devastat-
ing environmental impacts of human activ-
ities increase, derived from the unchecked
human population growth, social inequi-
ties, and irresponsible consumption, many
of us, as Peter Raven has eloquently de-
scribed in his essay in this special section
of the QRB, believe that avoiding a collapse
of nature and human civilization requires,
more than ever, a spiritual approach. And
that is what Laudato Si is about: hope that
we will find a way to care for our common
home, avoiding a possible collapse of civi-
lization.
More than 50 years ago, when the world
was at the brink of a nuclear war, Pope
John XXIII wrote an Encyclical to warn
about the terrible outcomes of war and of-
fered hope and solutions. So, Pope Francis
offers hope and solutions in his Encyclical
to solve environmental problems, too. Four
decades later, with 3 billion more people
on Earth, Pope Francis wrote, Now, faced
as we are with global environmental deteri-
oration, I wish to address every person liv-
ing on this planet (sec. 3).
The Encyclical covers an extremely broad
range of environmental problems, such as
global warming, loss of biodiversity, hazard-
ous chemicals and waste, marine pollution,
destruction of forests, monoculture plan-
tations, lack of clean drinking water, and
social problems such as inequity, greed,
and poverty (Bodansky 2015). It had an
immediate impact on the media. It was cov-
ered in numerous printed and electronic
outlets, and became a major contribution
to the growing literature on the global en-
vironmental crisis. It was received mostly
with relief and hope. The Encyclical has
been amply discussed in the scientific and
humanities technical literature, as well as in
Volume 91
the popular press. It has been praised, but
some scientists correctly indicated that al-
though hopeful, it missed the central point
of the current environmental crisis, the
growth of human population (e.g., Ehrlich
and Harte 2015). The Encyclical has had a
major impact, especially the discussion of
poverty and social inequities in relation to
the devastation of nature, and the need to
shift to a sustainable economy (e.g., Bodan-
sky 2015; Brito 2015; Ehrlich and Ehrlich
2016).
The publication and outreach of Lau-
dato Si played a role in many important
global discussions, and very likely had some
influence on the outcome of the historic
Paris Climate agreement of December 2015
(COP21). Although the Encyclical has a very
solid scientific base, its major impact is be-
cause of the moral stature of Pope Francis,
rather than its scientific novelty: its impact
is more because of the author than because
of the content (Bodansky 2015). Laudato
Si helped to call attention to diverse en-
vironmental problems at the time of its
publication. One of my papers on the sixth
mass extinction was published a day after
the Encyclical (Ceballos et al. 2015a). Be-
cause of the timing, this paper became vi-
ral, reaching millions of people in few days.
In many of the radio, television, and news
interviews that my colleagues and I gave,
we were asked about our perception of the
value of the Popes Encyclical. I responded
that by addressing the major environmen-
tal problems in general, and the loss of
biodiversity in particular, Pope Francis had
helped to convey an important message on
the need to act. I also indicated that it was
rather fortunate that my paper had been
published a day after the Encyclical; and
that it was likely one of the key factors in
generating so much interest on the sixth
mass extinction.
I discuss here some of what I perceive
are the positive implications of Laudato Si
for conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem
services, and human well-being. I use the
Laudato Si framework to discuss important
environmental issues, particularly global
climate and biodiversity loss. My own inter-
est is as an ecologist and conservationist.
September 2016 COMMENTARIES ON THE POPES MESSAGE LAUDATO SI
So, my comments will expand and discuss
some of the topics and ideas expressed by
Pope Francis in Laudato Si.
United by the Same Concerns
Humanity faces an increasing global en-
vironmental degradation that threatens its
long-term stability. Pope Francis wrote, The
urgent challenge to protect our common
home includes a concern to bring the whole
human family together to seek a sustainable
and integral development, for we know that
things can change (sec. 13). He contin-
ues, I urgently appeal, then, for a new dia-
logue about how we are shaping the future
of our planet (sec. 14). A new dialogue is
indeed required. And although solving en-
vironmental degradation is an extremely
complex issue, its impact (I) can be cen-
tered on the relationship of human pop-
ulation (P), affluence (i.e., consumption;
A), and technological efficiency (T) in the
following equation: I = PAT (Ehrlich and
Holdren 1971); more humans, more con-
sumption, and less technological efficiency
results in a more severe environmental deg-
radation, which exacerbates poverty and so-
cial inequities (e.g., Dasgupta 2001; Brown
et al. 2014). The negative environmental
impacts have soared as the human popu-
lation continues to grow unchecked from
less than 1 billion people at the beginning
of the 19th century to the present 7.4 bil-
lion, with a projected 9.8 billion by 2050
(Ehrlich 1968; Cohen 1995; Population
Reference Bureau 2015). The human pop-
ulation adds roughly 250,000 people per
day, 1 million every four days, and around
90 million every year (Population Refer-
ence Bureau 2015). We are reaching the
limits to maintain such an ever-growing hu-
man population. Laudato Si clearly indi-
cates the need for a paradigm shift to a
more sustainable and integrated develop-
ment. James H. Brown and collaborators
(2014) have eloquently demonstrated that
the current economic paradigm based in
population, consumption, and economic
development is no longer compatible with
the biophysical limits of the finite Earth
(Brown et al. 2014:24). Among the factors
287
affected by human population are food
production, the environment, economics,
resources, governance, institutions, and
collapse (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 2016). The
unchecked human population growth has
many repercussions, and is especially acute
with the poor.
Pope Francis emphasized, Following a
period of irrational confidence in progress
and human abilities, some sectors of society
are now adopting a more critical approach
(sec. 19). Indeed, a series of seminal books
in the 1960s and 1970s such as Rachel Car-
sons Silent Spring (1962), Paul Ehrlichs The
Population Bomb (1968), and Jean Dorsts Be-
fore Nature Dies (1971), among others, have
already warned of the dangers of the increas-
ing devastation of nature and shared the
same concerns about the future of civiliza-
tion. I found it very inspiring that some of
those books, aside from discussing a pleth-
ora of reasons to protect nature, also men-
tioned love as fundamental to protecting
nature, such as St. Francis of Assisi did cen-
turies ago. Particularly interesting is the
final paragraph of Dorsts book, where he
wrote, Man has enough objective reasons
to safeguard nature. But in the last analysis
it will only be saved by our hearts. It will
only be saved if man loves it, simply because
it is beautiful. . . . For that, too, is an inte-
gral part of the human soul (Dorst 1971:
329).
Climate Change
There is no doubt that climate disrup-
tion with its multiple manifestations, such
as changes in temperature and rainfall pat-
terns, melting of the poles, rising sea levels,
methane emissions, permafrost melting, sea
currents, and impact on plants and ani-
mals, among many other factors, is one of
the most severe and urgent environmental
problems. It is threatening the survival of
mankind. So it not surprising that Pope
Francis dedicated a great deal of Laudato
Si to discussing climate change and its im-
plications. The climate is a common good,
belonging to all and meant for all. At the
global level, it is a complex system linked
to many of the essential conditions for hu-
288 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY
man life. A very solid scientific consensus
indicates that we are presently witnessing a
disturbing warming of the climatic system
(sec. 23).
Climate disruption is caused by climate
warming that is the result of an increase
in the concentration in the atmosphere of
CO2 from burning fossil fuels (such as oil
and carbon) and an increase in the con-
centration of methane from cattle growth
and the loss of the permafrost layer in the
Artic, among other factors. Many scien-
tists have warned of the likely implications
of climate disruption for Mother Nature
and human civilization. There are literally
thousands of papers on the impacts of cli-
mate disruption on ecosystems, biodiver-
sity, and humans (see Pachauri et al. 2014;
Barnosky and Hadly 2016 for recent re-
views). It has been suggested that 2047 will
be the year of global climate departure,
meaning that from there on, the coldest
year on the planet will be hotter than any
previous year from 1866 to 2005 (Mora et al.
2013). The normal will no longer be nor-
mal. On this point, Pope Francis wrote,
Warming has effects on the carbon cycle.
It creates a vicious circle which aggravates
the situation even more, affecting the avail-
ability of essential resources like drinking
water, energy and agricultural production
in warmer regions, and leading to the ex-
tinction of part of the planets biodiversity
(sec. 24). The pervasive negative effects of
global climate disruption are already being
seen in many regions of the world. There
are islands that are sinking due to sea-level
rise, food production is disrupted by flood
and drought, emerging and reemerging
diseases are becoming more frequent, and
many species are facing extinction.
Biodiversity Loss
Pope Francis is right when he notes the
loss of forests and woodlands entails the
loss of species which may constitute ex-
tremely important resources in the future,
not only for food but also for curing disease
and other uses (sec. 32). Indeed, a critical
issue to really appreciate the magnitude of
the current extinction crisis is the under-
Volume 91
standing that the knowledge of the diversity
of life on Earth is very limited. So, the call
from Pope Francis to take care of Mother
Earth could not be more opportune. Most
of the biological diversity on Earth is un-
known. Life originated some 3.7 billion
years ago with unicellular species. It is es-
timated that the current number of living
species is the largest in the history of life
(e.g., May 1992; Mora et al. 2013). It is
likely that the number of eukarotic species
probably ranges between 5 and 100 million
(Erwin 1982; Ehrlich and Wilson 1991; May
1992; Mora et al. 2013). But only an esti-
mated 2 million have been described, so
that most species are unknown to science
(Ceballos and Ehrlich 2002; IUCN 2016).
Methodological advances in the study of
morphology, genetics, and acoustics, to men-
tion a few topics, and availability of accessi-
ble technological tools such as camera traps,
GPS, satellite information, and so on, has
produced a wealth of discoveries of new
species in what has been called a New Age
of Discovery (Donoghue and Alverson
2000; Ceballos and Ehrlich 2002; Ceballos
et al. 2010). Species described in the last de-
cade likely exceed 200,000, and range from
mammals to microorganisms (Sogin et al.
2006; ISSE 2009). Most of the newly discov-
ered species and the undiscovered biologi-
cal diversity are found in the tropics and in
developing countries. Within the tropics,
hotspots of species discoveries are concen-
trated in the Neotropics (i.e., from central
Mexico to South America), Southeast Asia,
and Madagascar (e.g., Ceballos et al. 2010).
A few examples will suffice to illustrate
the wealth of the new discoveries. The num-
ber of amphibians described from 1992 to
2003 accounted for 26% of all known spe-
cies (roughly 6000 species; Khler et al.
2005). Hundreds more have been described
since then. With my colleague Paul Ehr-
lich we published a paper a few years ago
that showed that 10% of all mammals were
described between 1993 and 2006 (Cebal-
los and Ehrlich 2009). The new species
included whales, a 100 kg antelope-like spe-
ciesthe soala (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) from
Vietnam, more than 40 species of monkeys,
and hundreds of smaller species. The trend
September 2016 COMMENTARIES ON THE POPES MESSAGE LAUDATO SI 289

has continued until today. From 2000 to

2016 roughly 430 new species representing
9% of all known living species have been
described throughout the world. More
have already been discovered and are in the
process of being scientifically described.
My research group with colleagues in Peru
has discovered approximately 17 species of
new mammals in that country. Every year
we carry out a scientific exploration to a
remote, little-studied region in Peru, while
we teach a course on conservation biol-
ogy. Our most important discoveries have
been carried out in the Tabaconas Nam-
balle wildlife sanctuary in the Pacific ver-
sant of the Andes near the Ecuador border.
In the new species heaven we found a
new marsupial, a shrew, a night monkey, a
porcupine, and several rodents (Figure 1;
Andries 2012). In 2009 and 2012 we ex-
plored the forests in the vicinity of the Ma-
chu Picchu archeological site and found an
extinct arboreal chinchilla (Cuscomys ob-
lativa) that was known from two prehistoric
skulls found in a tomb at the beginning
of the 20th century (Figure 1). The long-
thought extinct species was found alive
walking slowly on the ground. It apparently
fell from a tree and was caught by a tour-
ist who gave it to a member of my research
group. It was a very beautiful and tame
animal, similar in size to a large squirrel.
It had striking coloration with a light grey
body and a conspicuous white band on its
head. The long hairy tail had a tuft at the
end. This was a rather remarkable finding
of an elusive and beautiful species, in a
place that has been relatively well explored
by biologists and is visited by more than a
million tourists every year. This is a clear
example of the countless undiscovered spe-
cies that are threatened by human activi-
ties before they can even be scientifically
described.
Newly described species have been dis- Figure 1. New Species of Animals Discovered
in the Last Decade
covered in the most unusual places such
New night monkey (Aotus nov sp.) and shrew (Cryp-
as a 3 km deep gold mine, in the bottom totis nov sp.) from the northern Peruvian Andes (photos:
of the ocean at 10 km deep, in the frigid Alexander Pari), and extinct arboreal chinchilla
water of Antarctica, and the sand dunes of (Cuscomys oblativa) from the Machu Picchu region in
Namibia (e.g., Ceballos et al. 2010). Some Peru (photo: Roberto Quisque).
new species are so unique that there is
no agreement among specialists where to
290 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY
place them in the systematic classification.
That is the case of a mushroom-like spe-
cies (Dendrogramma enigmatica) collected in
deep waters off Australia, representing a
new family of animals that could be related
to jellyfish, coral, and sea anemones ( Just
et al. 2014). Indeed, there is so much in-
terest in new species that popular science
magazines such as National Geographic and
Discovery report every year on the most inter-
esting newly discovered species (Clemens
2015). Newsweek recently published what it
called The 21 Coolest New Animal Species
of 2015 (Main 2015) that included photo-
graphs of an incredible variety of species
such as the the worlds smallest snail (Angus-
topila dominikae) found in China; the hog-
nosed rat (Hyorhinomys stuempkei) found on a
mountain in Sulawesi, Indonesia; a toothed
frog (Odontobatrachus arndti) from West-
ern Africa; an anglerfish (Lasiognathus regan)
found at depths between 3200 and 4900 feet
in the Gulf of Mexico; and the Cerro Fatal
giant tortoise (Chelonoidis donfaustoi) from
the Galapgos Islands, one of the biologi-
cally best-studied places on Earth.
The distribution of species on Earth is
not homogeneous. There are regions and
countries that have more species than oth-
ers. The top countries are referred to as
megadiverse countries (Mittermeier et al.
1999). Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Peru,
and Mexico are among the top 12 mega-
diverse countries, which altogether are es-
timated to contain roughly 60 to 70% of all
species. Most biodiversity is found in devel-
oping countries, many with rapidly growing
human populations, and a large percent-
age of poor people. For example, Mexico
ranks fifth or sixth in the top megadiverse
countries. However, its population has in-
creased from around 40 million in 1950 to
120 million today; more than 60 million
are considered poor. It is expected that the
countries to be the hardest hit first by cli-
mate disruption are those developing coun-
tries, especially in Africa and Asia. Pope
Francis remarked, Climate change . . .
represents one of the principal challenges
facing humanity in our day. Its worst impact
will probably be felt by developing coun-
tries in coming decades. Many of the poor
Volume 91
live in areas particularly affected by phe-
nomena related to warming (sec. 25).
Population and Extinction Losses
One of the main topics of Laudato Si is
the disappearance of species. We are in the
midst of a massive assault on living things
on the planet, causing the loss of millions of
populations and thousands of species (e.g.,
Pimm et al. 2014; Ceballos et al. 2015a,b).
The Encyclical devotes many paragraphs to
this fundamental issue. Pope Francis said,
Each year sees the disappearance of thou-
sands of plant and animal species which we
will never know, which our children will
never see, because they have been lost for
ever (sec. 33). Lost forever indeed. Wil-
liam Beebe once wrote, The beauty and
genius of a work of art may be reconceived,
though its first material expression be de-
stroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again
inspire the composer; but when the last in-
dividual of a race of living beings breathes
no more, another heaven and another
earth must pass before such a one can be
again (Beebe 1906:18).
A fundamental question is whether the
rate of modern extinctions caused by hu-
man activities is higher than the normal or
background extinction rate. This is impor-
tant because it would let us understand if
we are causing a mass extinction. Species
extinction is, perhaps, the only truly irre-
versible environmental problem in the
sense that once a species is lost there is no
way to recover it. When the dinosaurs were
gone, for example, they were gone forever.
But it is important to emphasize that life
on Earth will likely recover in a few million
years after the mass extinction caused by
humans. Extinction and speciation are two
of the forces driving the evolution of life on
Earth. In the past 600 million years, there
has been five episodes of mass extinction,
which mark the end of geological periods.
Those five extinctions are known as the
Ordovician-Silurian (450 440 million years
ago), the Late Devonian (375360 mya),
the Permian (252 mya), the Triassic-Jurassic
(201 mya), and the Cretaceous-Tertiary
(66 mya) mass extinctions (see Jablonski
September 2016 COMMENTARIES ON THE POPES MESSAGE LAUDATO SI
2001; Ceballos et al. 2015b). All of this mass
extinction marked the future of life on Earth
by causing the extinction of many groups
of animals and plants (e.g., Ceballos et al.
2015b). Those mass extinctions share some
characteristics; all were caused by natural
catastrophes, a large percentage of species
became extinct, and they were relatively
rapid in geologic times (from thousands to
a few million years). In the Cretaceous-Ter-
tiary mass extinction all of the dinosaurs dis-
appeared. It was likely caused by the impact
of a huge meteorite, which crashed into Earth
at the Yucatn Peninsula traveling at an
astounding 40,000 miles (64,000 kilome-
ters) an hour and hitting with an explosive
force estimated at 100 trillion tons of TNT.
From the impact, the Chicxulub crater on
the Yucatn coast of Mexico can be seen
from space (Smith 2016). Everything within
a 1000 km radius was instantly vaporized.
The blast was followed by a huge tsunami
that was 400 m high. And then the debris
of the impact that had been sent half the
distance to the moon came down and ig-
nited endless firesa real inferno.
The normal or background rate of the
species extinction of mammals in the last
2 million years, derived from a thorough
analysis of thousands of mammal fossil and
subfossil records, was two species for every
10,000 species present, every 100 years (Bar-
noski et al. 2011). For example, we would
expect eight extinctions in a century if we
analyzed 40,000 species (i.e., two extinc-
tions per 10,000 species times four). A rate
much higher across many different taxa
would indicate a mass extinction. In the last
100 years some 477 species of vertebrates
became extinct. Under a normal extinction
rate, it would be expected to have only nine
extinctions in that century. But there were
468 more extinctions than would be ex-
pected. Putting it a different way, the species
lost in the last 100 years would have become
extinct in between 1000 to 10,000 years, de-
pending on the vertebrate group, under a
normal extinction rate (Figure 2). We can
confidently conclude that modern extinc-
tion rates are exceptionally high, that they
are increasing, and that a mass extinction is
under waythe sixth of its kind in Earths
291
4.5 billion years of history (Ceballos et al.
2015a).
The current extinction crisis is more
complex than species losses. It involves both
species and populations (Ceballos and Ehr-
lich 2002). Indeed the concept of defauna-
tion has being coined to refer to the loss of
animal populations (Dirzo et al. 2014). Pop-
ulation extinctions are the prelude of spe-
cies extinction and a very important, and
often neglected, problem. For example, Fig-
ure 3 clearly shows that most regions in Af-
rica, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Europe
have lost more than 75% of the population
of 177 mammal species analyzed (see also
Ceballos and Ehrlich 2002).
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem goods and services are the
benefits that humans receive from the
function of an ecosystem, and include sup-
porting services such as the combination
of the gases of the atmosphere, the qual-
ity and quantity of freshwater, soil fertility,
flood and disease control, pollination and
seed dispersal, and spiritual and cultural
benefits (Daily 1997). Laudato Si reminds
us: It may well disturb us to learn of the
extinction of mammals or birds, since they
are more visible. But the good functioning
of ecosystems also requires fungi, algae,
worms, insects, reptiles and an innumera-
ble variety of microorganisms. Some less nu-
merous species, although generally unseen,
nonetheless play a critical role in maintain-
ing the equilibrium of a particular place
(sec. 34).
But losing thousands of species and
hundreds of thousands of populations is
dramatic and tragic. We are losing species
much more rapidly now than in the last two
million years. At that pace, we may lose a
large proportion of vertebrates, including
mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and
fishes, in the next two to three decades (see
recent reviews in Ceballos et al. 2015a,b;
Barnosky and Hadly 2016). Those species
are our companions in our travel across
the universe. Losing them has many conse-
quences. By losing species, we are eroding
the conditions of Earth that are essential to
292 THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY Volume 91

Figure 2. Population Losses in 177 Species of Mammals are an Indication of the Severity
of the Problem
Large regions on all of the continents have lost more than 50% of the evaluated mammals (data from
Ceballos and Ehrlich 2002).
September 2016 COMMENTARIES ON THE POPES MESSAGE LAUDATO SI
Figure 3. Modern Extinction Rates
in Vertebrates
Rapid rates of vertebrate species losses in the last
five centuries clearly indicate that we have entered the
Sixth Mass Extinction (modified from Ceballos et al.
2015a).
maintain life. We are eroding our human
well-being and threatening our existence.
In that respect, Pope Francis reminds us of
the remarkable comments that Pope Paul VI
expressed in 1971, Due to an ill-consid-
ered exploitation of nature, humanity runs
the risk of destroying it and becoming in
turn a victim of this degradation (sec. 4).
There is still time to avert the most tragic
consequences of a sixth mass extinction, be-
cause we caused this one. We need to curb
human population growth and social in-
equality, use natural resources more effi-
ciently, and reduce habitat loss, overfishing,
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-peru-monkeys-animals-science/.
Barnosky A. D., Hadly E. A. 2016. Tipping Point for
Planet Earth: How Close Are We to the Edge? New York:
Thomas Dunne Books.
Barnosky A. D., Matzke N., Tomiya S., Wogan G. O. U.,
Swartz B., Quental T. B., Marshall C., McGuire
J. L., Lindsey E. L., Maguire K. C., Mersey B., Fer-
rer E. A. 2011. Has the Earths sixth mass extinc-
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Beebe W. 1906. The Bird: Its Form and Function. New
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293
overhunting, and pollution, as well as all of
the other factors causing the current high
rate of extinction. We are the only species
that has the capability to save all endan-
gered animals. Paradoxically, saving them
is the only way to save humanity.
The Future of Mankind
There is a consensus among scientists and
large sectors of society, the private sector,
governments, and international institutions
such as United Nations that environmental
problems, especially climate disruption and
biodiversity loss, are threatening the long-
term viability of civilization. Pope Francis
reminds us, We all know that it is not possi-
ble to sustain the present level of consump-
tion in developed countries and wealthier
sectors of society, where the habit of wast-
ing and discarding has reached unprec-
edented levels (sec. 27). We are free to
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Handling Editor: Daniel E. Dykhuizen